Klopp sets sights on lasting Anfield legacy as he signs until 2024
I cannot imagine leaving club yet, says manager Gerrard may already be lined up as successor
Jurgen Klopp plans to create a lasting legacy at Liverpool after committing himself to the club until 2024. The manager has extended the six-year deal he signed in 2016 by two more seasons after Fenway Sports Group spent a year urging him to agree fresh terms.
The club’s American owners are ecstatic to have secured the position of a coach who, alongside Pep Guardiola, has become the world’s most coveted.
“I couldn’t imagine I would leave,” Klopp said, explaining the timing of his renewal.
“That was the moment I thought we can start thinking about how long do I want to stay? I have no clue how long it will be in the end, but it was not possible for me to imagine that I would leave in 2022 because of the people we have and what we have created here.
“It was not that I went to the club and said, ‘Come on let’s have a new contract’. The club started the talks and then we realised – together with my family – that it is the right thing to do. I liked the idea more and more.”
Klopp suggested persistent questions about whether he would still be in charge beyond 2022 were becoming an issue with transfer targets.
“With new players when you want to bring them in they ask, ‘How long is the manager going to be here?’ We all wanted to avoid that, so it’s done and I am really happy about that,” he said.
“For a manager a 2½-year contract is normally longer than you can plan, for sure, but in a specific case it’s important just for stability.
“Whatever happens, this 4½year contract is very good news for all the young players in the academy. We want to use them, we want to involve them in the team. Understanding the culture of the club more and more made the decision, at the end, really sensationally easy.”
Although Liverpool have a comfortable Premier League lead, have progressed in the Champions League as they defend their European title, and may be only eight days from being the club world champions, Klopp warned of “cloudy days” ahead.
“I don’t like to talk about problems which could be in the future, but there will be,” he said.
“If the right people are in the right place and you trust each other, still then everything can be fine, it’s only a defeat like it always was. If not then people start doubting and that should not happen. That is why we thought this consolidation is the best for the club.
“We have to stay on track as other teams don’t sleep. We don’t sleep. We have to see what we change, what we don’t change. All of these decisions should be made out of a real comfortable situation.
“We have to make changes. That is normal. I have no clue how and who. We have to refresh things in moments. This team will always be the core set, the basis for all other teams following. There is no need to make the same number of changes that we made in the last 4½ years, in the next 4½ years. Absolutely not.
“This is an outstanding team and we never could have imagined we could get a group like this together, but of course there will be things. A player might want to leave, which is OK, then we have to bring in the right replacement.
“To keep the level we are on we have to be really on our toes and to be on your toes you need to change sometimes a little bit and that is what we will do.”
Peter Krawietz and Pep Lijnders, Klopp’s assistants, have also signed until 2024. With Steven Gerrard, the former Liverpool captain, committing himself to Rangers until the same year, a succession plan may already have been pencilled in.
The timing of Klopp’s deal was warmly welcomed by a fan base who make no secret of their distaste for the general election outcome. Liverpool’s manager admitted to similar misgivings about the result.
“If the people wanted a lift today and they feel it is a lift then they are welcome,” Klopp said.
“I feel the same. It is the same strange feeling after what happened yesterday, which was tough to take. It is how it is and now we have to see how that will go on in all parts of life.
“I don’t think we chose it because of that [the election]. I feel responsible for a lot of things, but I don’t think too much about it. I try to help this football club to be in the best possible place and then that has an impact on all the rest of the things in the city, I guess.”
In a joint statement, John W Henry, Liverpool’s principal owner, Tom Werner, the chairman, and Mike Gordon, the president, described “a big moment” in their reign. “There is no better manager than Jurgen,” they said.
Klopp has one headache going into today’s meeting with bottom club Watford, however. Dejan Lovren may be out until early in the new year, leaving Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez as the only fit centre-backs.